I am so behind, I know, but I'm so afraid I'll forget all these little thoughts and memories.

So I left off at the magical bread, but I forgot the tea.

The girls noticed that Hannah had some tea with The Gruffalo on the box. This instantly made the tea oh so interesting! Just like good little proper British children, they have been having tea 2-3 times a day ever since. Hannah's bird mug was a total bonus too! (in case you want to check it out- https://youtu.be/cVkj4McR1Fo )

We heard that Borough Market and Brixton were all the market rage, but since we were now enchanted with our new Hackney roots, we decided to check out Broadway Market.

OH. MY. WORD. This market, you guys, I can't even. It was full of the most beautiful whole foods I have ever seen. There is just something about a neighborhood market- the good food, the artisans, the makers, the performers, the dogs and kids, it all feels like community to me.

I also felt very proud of #RVA, we are on our way to a market like this, and very much holding our own. BUT if you ever find your way to Hackney, please have a Whoopie pie from Violet (www.violetcakes.com ) for me or the mushroom risotto with like 5 different exotic mushrooms from that guy at the market....wish I remembered his name, that was the risotto OF MY LIFE.

Josiah and Jack were happy to have some freedom and wander time to be on their own. They met a really rad guy from Organikrocka.com who made ethically made/organic t-shirts. He took the time to explain his art to them. Stranger goodness for sure.

I swear, I could wander neighborhoods, cafes, parks and markets in a 2 mile radius, just meeting various folks and be so, so happy. I left so full from the market, it made me really think about the kind of travel we are doing. I think because this trip was shorter we are straddling the line of doing touristy sorts of things along with living in a place and experiencing a culture/place. It's a weird balance and it was good to reflect for the future.

We left straight from the market to see some shows. The girls saw Wicked and the boys went to Stomp. The older boys had no interest in Wicked, except Jorge, he totally wanted to see it...but Stomp is just so rad, it all seemed to work out.

So in honor of my mother Ginny Hammond, and her you-make-your-own-good-time motto, I promptly bought the $25 limited view and no leg room seats in the balcony. The second I hit purchase, I was nervous and prepped the girls for the bad seat sitch- except the seats were totally awesome. You had to lean over the balcony just a bit and if I had the pound to buy the booster seats for the girls- they wouldn't have had to even do that...BUT kids are a little wiggly, so the space was perfect.

The girls were mesmerized and LOVED every second. It was the first show Lyra had ever been to and Lucy was too little to remember hers, so it felt new all around. Their eyes lit up at every song they knew and Wicked has about a million good messages in it...it was so lovely. We also happened to be part of the show when the 7 millionth person had seen the musical. 7 MILLION people!

The boys said Stomp was every bit as good- and they got bumped up from their $30 limited view seats, so the universe shined on our musical loving family.

From there we went to the London Eye, which was our big splurge. It's a gigantic ferris wheel of sorts and has some crazy views of the city. It was cool, but certainly didn't have the wow factor we thought. It was just one more reminder that you probably don't need all these crazy tourist things to make a trip memorable.

Our last stop of the night was Picadilly Circus- just think Times Square. I think we spent a whole 45 minutes there and I could have been done at about minute 15.....but there was a a street performer there blowing bubbles....big, big bubbles. SO simple and yet so enjoyable. The entire crowd was cheering and the girls were out of their minds....these are terrible pics but you can still see the mad JOY on their faces. Can't wait to get to the real pics soon....The bubble guy was raising money for a trip to Australia...he was just brilliant.

more to come, Shoreditch, Irma the artist and the moment we hit the GIANT travel wall....